1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mechanical press and, more particularly, to a drive disk assembly that is segmented in order to provide the ability to remove individual portions of the drive disk for replacement.
2. Description of the Related Art
The typical mechanical press includes a bed that is mounted to a platform or the floor of a shop, a vertically spaced crown portion in which the drive assembly for the slide is contained, and one or more uprights rigidly connecting the bed and crown and maintaining the bed and crown in vertically spaced relationship. The crown houses the drive assembly, which typically comprises a crankshaft having a plurality of eccentrics thereon and connecting rods coupled to the crankshaft eccentrics at their upper ends and to the slide at their lower ends. The slide is mounted within the uprights for reciprocating motion and is adapted to have the upper half of the die set mounted to it with the other half mounted to the bolster, which is connected to the bed.
At one end of the crankshaft or on a top or side mounted driveshaft is conventionally mounted a flywheel and clutch assembly wherein the flywheel is connected by a belt to the output pulley of a motor such that when the motor is energized, the massive flywheel rotates continuously. When the clutch is energized, the rotary motion of the flywheel is transmitted to the crankshaft, which causes the connecting rods to undergo rotary-oscillatory motion that is transmitted to the slide assembly by means of a wrist pin, for example, so that such motion is converted to rectilinear reciprocating motion of the slide. The connecting rods may be connected directly to the slide or connected by means of pistons, which in turn are slidably received within cylinders connected to the crown.
In one conventional configuration, a clutch flex plate is attached to the flywheel and includes a drive disk attached thereto. A driven disk, including a combination brake/clutch assembly, is attached to the crankshaft. The brake/clutch assembly may be selectively energized to engage the driven disk with the drive disk of the flywheel arrangement, thereby transferring rotational energy to the crankshaft, or it may be de-activated to retard and eventually brake the crankshaft movement.
An adverse operating condition experienced by such disk arrangements involves the tendency of the drive disk, which is connected to the flywheel or clutch flex plate, to heat up due to frictional contact of the drive disk with the driven disk. This frictional engagement causes the drive disk to thermally expand during the operating cycle. This expansion, if of sufficient magnitude and duration, may cause the drive disk to grow radially and displace axially, in either or both of the axial directions, into contact with one of the clutch facings of the driven disk or clutch sleeve. The contact formed by the axial movement of the drive disk under such conditions is called thermally-induced axial closeout. This unintended contact results in excessive glazing and friction between the clutch facing and drive disk, thereby causing burnout of the clutch facing and/or excessive wear. Furthermore, axial closeout prevents the drive disk from fully disengaging from the clutch facings of the driven disk.